[SwimTeamSpeedo]

The Sunday after the big meet was a special treat, coach gave the team the day off. It was a good thing, Greg had not slept at all, the race playing in his mind, over and over and over again. Greg climbed out of bed, it was a few minutes after five am. He slipped on the board shorts he wore yesterday and went downstairs. The sun was already coming up, but the house was still quiet. It would be at least an hour before anyone else got out of bed. Monique, who had come up for the meet, was still in the other bedroom of the house. After the meet, Greg and her, along with his host parents had gone to dinner. Greg and Monique then spent the evening out by the small backyard pool, playing cards and just being boyfriend and girlfriend. All the while, Greg felt like he had let everyone, most of all himself, down.

While he had no desire to swim, he jumped in the pool and swam a few “laps” underwater, just to get refreshed and wash the cobwebs from his eyes. He felt the drag of his board shorts, a far different feel from his swim team suits. While he loved his boardies, he knew he could never actually swim in them. He climbed out, refreshed, and sat on the lounger. The time alone was nice. He leaned back and reflected. He had swam the race of his life, set a new personal best time, and he did get some looks from a couple of great schools. It really wasn’t the end of the world.

Just before he was about to doze, Greg got out of the chair and headed back inside. Back in his room, his home away from home, he grabbed his box full of swimsuits and dumped all of them on his bed. He had at least 40 suits in the box, not even half of his total collection. He added the four new swimsuits he got at the meet, tags still on them, two of which Monique had picked out. He smiled at the new suits, excited to try them on, but he held back. Greg methodically laid each suit out, sorting them by brands. Speedo was the most popular in his collection, followed by Tyr, Nike, and Agon. He had a sole Arena suit, and a couple different less common brands. He had a couple suits where he had duplicate colors, one size 26 and one in 28. Greg wore mostly 28, except for races where he wore 26 or even 24. He pulled from his stacks two suits, both size 26, both Speedo brand and set them aside. He laid his collection neatly back in the box.

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Jimmy got home from church and ran in the house and quickly changed into his blue shorts, his usual Sunday morning rush. While the rest of the family would sit down to a lunch, Jimmy would hop on his bicycle and head over to the pool. He got to the pool at about quarter of noon, surprised to see it totally empty. No swim team. He was looking forward to watching the Sunday game of inner tube Polo.

“You get to start early,” Molly said as Jimmy came in,

“How come?” Jimmy asked.

“Oh, swim team took the day off,” Molly replied.

Jimmy was disappointed that he would not see Greg. He was looking forward to telling him about his idea to join the high school team. Jimmy dropped his stuff on the bench along the fence, stripped off his shirt and ran in to take the required shower. On his way back he grabbed all his drill gear. He was still the only one there, besides the guards and Molly. Jimmy jumped in and began swimming. One would think a kid who came swimming every day for hours would get tired of it. Not Jimmy, he loved every minute.

The swim team coach was in the small office working. He used the quiet time to write up some new drills and practice plans. He looked out his window and saw the same kid in blue shorts. He stopped his writing and watched. “Wow, has he improved,” he thought to himself. He recalled weeks back a skinny, uncoordinated kid who looked like a fish out of water as he swam. He stood and left his office.

“Who is that kid?” Coach asked Molly.

“Oh, that’s Jimmy, he swims every day, rain or shine. Two hours and then sometimes comes back at night and swims again,” Molly explained.

“He’s really improved,” the Coach added. “Is he being coached at all?”

“Not really,” Molly replied. “Greg from your team spends some time with him, but that is about it.”

“Interesting,” Coach replied. “So this is the kid Greg was talking about,” Coach thought to himself.

“You know, Molly, he may not have the best technique yet, but I have to admire his dedication. I’d take that on my team any day, I can work with a kid who has drive.”

Jimmy went back and forth, changing up strokes. He saw the coach on the deck, but never heard a word of the conversation. Jimmy had no idea how important this day was going to be for his future plans. The Coach smiled and went back into his office. “I like this kid,” he thought to himself.

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Monique and Greg had plans to spend the afternoon at the beach. The left the house shortly after twelve and made a stop at a local Dunkin Donuts for food Greg’s coach would freak out at. Greg had two chocolate glazed donuts and a chocolate milk. Monique had a bagel with cream cheese and an iced coffee. “Hey, mind if I swing by the pool?” Greg asked. “I want to go say hi to Jimmy.”

“Sure,” Monique replied. “I’d like to meet him.”

Jimmy was finishing up his first hour. He stopped at the wall and was changing into flippers for his kicking drills. He wasn’t really watching for Greg, figuring he’d not see his friend and coach today.

“Hey Jimmy,” the voice started Jimmy’s concentration. He turned and saw Greg and Monique walking toward him. This time Greg had on white “Corona” logo’d boardies, which was funny because not only did Greg not drink beer, but he wasn’t even close to old enough. In fact, he’d never even tasted a Corona. He just liked the shorts. Monique was far more interesting. She had on tiny pink shorts and a short cropped T-shirt that had a low neckline. She wasn’t just cute, Jimmy thought, she was hot!

“Hey Greg,” Jimmy replied with excitement. They went through introductions, with Jimmy reaching up and shaking Monique’s hand. Jimmy then explained what he was working on.

“Let’s see what you can do,” Greg asked. He watched as Jimmy swam a lap, did the best flip turn he could at the end and then swam back half way in back and then the other in breast.

“Jimmy, you are doing really good, that looked great.” Greg offered. “Hey, I got something for you,” Jimmy added, pulling the two swimsuits he had set aside earlier from the bag. “I think it is time you wore a real swimsuit.” Greg added.

Jimmy was overwhelmed. He held up the two suits, one a red print and the other a blue solid with yellow side panels. Both size 26. “Thanks, so much,” Jimmy replied.

“Hey, I got lots of swimsuits and these were duplicates, so I thought you could use them, go out one on and lets see…” Greg tailed off. Jimmy leaped from the pool, showing off his newest skill, and headed to the locker room to change. Monique smiled as Greg’s “younger brother” headed off to change.

“You really care about him,” she said as she kissed Greg’s cheek. “You’re sweet.”

Jimmy slipped off the blue swims shorts and chose the red print Speedo brand suit to put on. He slid the tight swimsuit up his legs and around his waist. The suit was snug and tight, and really tiny, but it actually fit perfectly. The snug lycra material wrapped around Jimmy, grabbing him snugly. The same ting that happens to most guys the first time they put on a snug fitting swimsuit happened to Jimmy, at least somewhat. He stood in front of the full length mirror and looked at how the suit looked on.

“Wow, you can see everything,” he thought to himself. It seemed way more revealing on him than he thought these swimsuits looked on the swim team guys. He fussed with positioning and look, finally deciding on what felt most comfortable. Despite the fact that this was the smallest piece of clothing he will have ever worn in his life, Jimmy had no hesitation walking out of the locker room.

“Now you look like a serious swimmer,” Greg complimented him.

“You do look great, Jimmy,” Monique added. Jimmy smiled at both of them, but opted not to stare to much at Monique for fear his body might respond.

“Did you tie the strings?” Greg asked.

“Oh yeah, forgot,” Jimmy replied. He pulled the strings out and tied them up tight.

Greg slipped off his Corona shorts to reveal one of the swimsuits Monique had bought. She smiled at him and he gave her a little swirl. With that the two guys jumped in the water. Jimmy immediately could not believe how different the water felt on his body. It was like he was free, almost naked.

“Let’s swim a length, so you get used to the new swimsuit. Jimmy started out and Greg followed. It was a much slower pace for Greg, but he held back. He watched the timing of Jimmy’s kick ahead of him, and the pull through of his arms. The next big critical thing, Greg thought, was to get Jimmy to rotate more. They got to the end of the pool and stood.

“How was it?” Greg asked.

“I love my swimsuit,” Jimmy answered.

“I told you,” Greg replied. “Looks like it fits perfect, too.” Jimmy smiled.